Thursday, April 14, 2011

Three McDonald's Corp. restaurant managers in Savannah, Ga., were charged Wednesday with selling identities stolen from U.S. citizens to prospective workers, a case that federal authorities say shows the risks employers are increasingly taking to mask the hiring of illegal immigrants.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said Wednesday that agents executed search warrants at two McDonald's outlets and the headquarters of McDonald's-NTG Enterprises, where they seized employee records and other evidence. The Savannah-based company owns and operates six McDonald's restaurants in the area.

Agents Wednesday arrested managers Oscar Lazo, 51 years old, a Peruvian national; Eva Ramos, 35, a U.S. citizen; and another unnamed manager, a Mexican citizen who was working under a stolen identity, at the restaurants. In addition to the managers, agents arrested nine immigrants at the restaurants and held two Mexican nationals, former employees of McDonald's in the area, at their homes.

It wasn't clear how the managers allegedly obtained the allegedly stolen identities.

McDonald's-NTG couldn't be reached for comment. Its owner and chief executive, Nina Gompels, didn't return phone messages left at her office and home.

An ICE official said that the investigation continues and that he couldn't rule out further indictments. "We are looking at any culpability up the management chain as well," said ICE special agent-in-charge Brock Nicholson.

Illegal immigrants, sometimes with the encouragement of their employers, are increasingly using the bona fide documents of legal residents or citizens of the U.S. to get hired.

Mr. Nicholson said that the Savannah case could be indicative of a new trend. As the federal government's "ability to investigate becomes better," he said, enterprises that want to engage in illegal hiring are devising "more sophisticated methods" to avoid detection.

About 11 million illegal immigrants reside in the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Lacking documents, some of them have traditionally used phony names and Social Security numbers to gain employment. But in recent years, technology has made it increasingly difficult for counterfeit documents to pass muster.

The use of an electronic system that checks a person's work eligibility, called E-Verify, is now mandatory for employers in several states. And the system must also be used by companies that do business with the government. However, it cannot detect illegal hires using someone else's identity.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Edward J. Tarver said identity theft is "a rapidly growing problem across our country."

If convicted on all counts, Mr. Lazo and Ms. Ramos face a maximum statutory penalty of more than 100 years in prison.